Device for use in knitting elastic top full fashioned hosiery



March 1, 1938: RINEHART 2,109,651

DEVICE FOR USE IN KNITTING ELASTIC TOP FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY .7

Filed Dec. 26, 1954 1 YENTOR.

A meharf' louis H- Manda/sob Patented M .',1,1s3s I UNITED STATES PATENT roFrl'cE l' DEVICE FOR USE IN KNITTING ELASTIC" TOP FULL FASHIONED HOSIEBY Arthur Binehart, Hawthorne, and Louis 11. Mendelsohn, Paterson, N. J.,

assignors, by direct and mesne assignments, of one-half to Excello Hosiery Mills, Hawthorne, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey, and one-half to Gotham Silk .Hosiery Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 26, i934, Serial No. 759,184 Claims. (oi. cs-147) I'he invention relates to improvements in the method of manufacturing full fashioned knitted hosiery having elastic knitted or woven tops and also to a device for use in practicing said method.

' One of the objects of the invention is to provide a novel and efficient method of manufacturing full fashioned knitted hosiery whereby an elastic preformed top or welt, made of a knitted or woven fabric, is joined to the knitted fabric of the leg portion of the hosiery during the knitting operations of the machine without the elastic properties of the welt fabric interfering with or affecting the proper operation of the knitting. needles or associated knitting mechanism.

A further object of the invention isto provide a method of manufacturing full fashioned elastic top hosiery whereby the fabric of said elastic top is knitted bnto the fabric of the leg portion of the hosiery while being held under tension and in a stretched condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing full fashioned elastic top knitted stockings which consists in extending a preformed strip of elastic knitted or woven fabric provided with a selvage edge having openings or loops therein in a stretched condition equal to the width 'of the bank of needles of. a knitting section, and while said strip is being thus maintained in said stretched and extended condition, top'pingthe openings or loops in the selvage edge thereof, onto the knitting needles of the knitting section, then knitting the fabric of the leg portion of the stocking and so that the. first courses thereof will be interlooped with the openings or loops of the selvage edge of the elastic strip of fabric, and then completing the knitting of the leg portion of the stocking while said elastic top strip of fabric is being maintained in its extended and stretched con-- diticn.

A further object of the inventionis to provide a device for maintaining the preformed elastic welt or top strip of fabric in' a stretched condition and under tension during the transfer or topping of said fabric onto the knitting needles of the machine and during theknitting of the leg portion of the stocking.

Referring to the drawing:

- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a strip of elastic top or' welt fabric which is suitable to be employed in carrying out the method of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a device of our invention which may be employed in practicing our method and which shows a strip of the clastic welt fabric held thereby in an extended and stretched condition; and n Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of certain of. the

pertinent parts ofthe knitting machine and indicating the manner in which the device illustrated in Fig. 2 grips and maintains the elastic welt fabric in an extended and stretched condition during the knitting'operation of the knitting machine. I

Prior to the present invention it has been customary to manufacture full fashioned'knitted stockings provided with elastic tops or welts sub- The stretched elastic welt fabric, thus topped on the transfer bar, is then transferred to the knit ting needles of the machine in the usual manner .then topped onto the points of a transfer bar.

and the transfer bar removed. The knittingof the leg portion of the stocking thenproceeds in the usual way.

Ithas been found in practice that when the elastic welt fabric is topped onto the knitting needles in this manner, the elastic fabric strip tends to contract to its original and normal width after the transfer bar is removed and thiscontraction quite frequently results in such a strain being put on the knitting needles-that. they are thrown out of alignment or break, and are thus prevented from 'functioningprcperly during the knitting operations in formingthe leg portion of the stocking. Also the extra strainput on the needles by the contraction of the elastic fabric has been found to result in a breaking or a distortion of the positionsofthe sinkers and dividers of the knitting mechanism and to prevent proper operation of these parts.

The method of the present invention not only overcomes the above mentioned dimculties en countered in connection with the manufacture of needles without theme of a transfer bar. Furthermore it enables the knitting of the entire leg portion while the elastic top or welt portion is elastic top stockings, but provides a means of; I quickly and accurately topping the selvage edge of the elastic .fabricstrip onto the knitting being maintained in a stretched condition.

Therefore the knitting of the leg portion may be accomplished without the elasticity of the top or welt interfering with the knitting in any way.

In practicing the method of our invention a preformed elastic welt fabric strip, such as is well known in the art, may be utilized for the top or welt portion of the stocking. Such strip of fabric may be a woven fabric such as is illustrated in Fig. 1 and mayfor example be composed of a plurality of rubber containing warps which alternate transversely of the body of the strip with fibrous warps. The strip of fabric is also formed with elastic selvage warps l and 2.

The selvage i may be formed with a line of v openings 3 along the same, or there may be provided a supplemental selvage warp which is spaced from the adjacent body selvage lmving open spaces which will constitute a readily Perceptible line of openings along the edge of the strip. While we have mentioned and have indicated in the drawing a certain type of construction of, woven fabric which is suitable to be employed in connection with our invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to this particular type of construction and any other elastic fabric, either knitted or woven, which is provided with a selvage edge.

having suitable openings or loops therein which might be topped on the needles of a full fashioned knitting machine may be employed.

The strip of elastic fabric is stretched or extended by hand to a width equivalent to the width of the needles of a knitting section of the knitting machine and so that the ends thereof may be engaged with the hooks 4 secured to the end portions of a flat metal strip 5 illustrated in Fig. 2. Said metal strip 5 extends the full width of a knitting section of the machine and has its end portions 6 formed so that they will readily slide along the bridges of the knitting section as the knitting of the stocking progresses. The metal strip is also provided with an opening I in the center thereof in which the usual take-up strap 8 of the machine may be hooked or secured. Also secured to the metal strip are a plurality of spaced clamps 9 which may be of any suitable construction and which are capable of clamping and holding one of the edges of the elastic fabric strip when'it is stretched between the hooks 4. The take-up strap 8, as is well known, is adapted to extend around and to be wound on the take-up roller I 6 as the knitting of the leg portion of the stocking fabric progresses.

When the elastic fabric strip has been stretched and secured to the metal strip 5 it will be obvious that the line of openings in the selvage edge I will be maintained in a smooth stretched condition and under a tension so that they will be easily perceptible to the operator of the machine and so that he can readily and directly top the elastic fabric onto the knitting needles il indicated in Fig. 3. .Also it will be observed that when the selvage edge of the elastic strip of fabric has been topped onto the knitting needles, the strip continues to be maintained in a stretched condition by the hooks 4 and clamps 9 of the metal bar 5 and there is no pull or strain placed upon the knitting needles by reason of a contraction of the elastic fabric.

After the elastic welt strip has been applied to the knitting needles, the machine is operated in the usual manner and the knitting of the leg portion of the stocking, indicated at l2 in Fig. 3, progresses until said leg portion has been completed. Throughout the knitting operation the elastic welt fabric strip is maintained in a likely to interfere with the normal knitting process.

When the knitting of the leg portion of the stocking is completed the elastic fabric is then disengaged from the metal strip 5 and permitted to return to its original unstretched-state.

It will be seen from the. above description that we have provided a novel and simple method of making elastic top full fashioned stockings which not only permits the joining of a preformed strip of elastic fabric to the plain knitted fabric of the stocking Without danger of injury to the knitting needles or other knitting mechanism during the knitting process, but we have also provided a method of topping an elastic fabric onto the knitting needles of a full fashioned knitting machine without the use of a transfer bar.

What we claim is: I

1. A device for applying an elastic strip of welt fabric having a selvage edge formed with a topping line of openings therein to the knitting needles of a full fashioned knitting machine which consists of a bar having thereon means for holding said elastic strip of fabric in a stretched condition of an equal length to the length of a section of said knitting needles, and so that said toppingline of openings will be maintained in an extended condition, and means for grasping the other edge of said strip so that it is maintained in a stretched condition.

2. A device for applying an elastic strip of welt fabric formed with a selvage edge having a topping line of openings therein, to the knitting needles of a full fashioned knitting machine, which consists of a bar of substantially the same length of a knitting section of the machine, means mounted at each end of said bar for holding the elastic strip of fabric in a lengthwise stretched condition of an equal length to that of a section of knitting needles and so that the topping line of openings is maintained in a stretched extended condition, a plurality of means secured to said bar for clamping the other edge portion of the elastic strip of fabric when it is in its extended condition, and means on said bar for securing the same to the takeup strap of the knitting section.

3. A device for applying an elastic strip of welt fabric, formed with aselvage edge having a topping line of openings therein, to ".ie knitting needles of a full fashioned knitting machine which consists of a bar substantially the length of ricaln a lengthwise stretched condition of any equal length to that of a section of knitting needles and so that the topping line of openings is maintained in a stretched extended condition, a plurality of means mounted along said bar for clamping the other side of the side edge portions of the elastic strip of fabric when it is being maintained in its stretched condition, and means on said bar for securing the same to the takeup strap of the knitting machine.

4. A stretcher bar for topping elastic welts and the like upon the needles of a knitting machine, consisting of a flat bar having means to engage the ends and an edge portion of the welt to hold the other welt edge in free stretched topping position thereon and during subsequent knitting.

5. In combination with the fabric take-01f mechanism of a full-fashioned knitting machine,

a stretcher bar for holding a separately formed elastic welt in elongated position for topping upon the needles and knitting interengaging loops therewith, consisting of a fiat bar having means to hold said elastic welt in supported stretched engagement thereon with a, free top- ARTHUR RINEHAR'I. LOUIS H. MENDELSOHN. 

